Trademark Registration: Meaning and Process

The acquisition of an exclusive right to make use of a registered trademark is one of the benefits of registering a trademark. This suggests that the owner of the trademark has the ability to use it solely or to provide a licence to another party for use of the trademark in exchange for payment. Any infringement on a trademark is unlawful, and as a result, the entity that owns the trademark has the right to prosecute the party that is infringing on their property.

What is Trademark?

A trademark may be a word, symbol, phrase, or logo—or any combination of these—that legally identifies the product of one company from any other products on the market.

What Exactly Trademark Registration Defines?

Trademark registration is the process of registering a creatively and uniquely designed trademark with the government agency with sole purpose to protect it legally. This starts with the development of unique trademark, filling the trademark application, submitting the application to the respective government agency along with the required documenters and fees. Once the trademark is registered successfully, the owner has exclusive rights to use the mark in connection with the goods or services listed in the registration. This registration, helps in preventing others from using the same or similar marks, which can cause confusion among consumers. Trademark registration is more often recommended for all sorts of businesses and organizations that want to protect their brand name, logo, or other identifying marks.

Stages of Trademark Registration

Following are the major steps for the trademark registration −

A Search for a Trademark

A knowledgeable individual from the trademark database will carry this out for you. This search will bring to light any and all information on an identical trademark that has previously been filed with the authorities in charge of trademarks. On the basis of this information, a trademark search report will be created.

Trademark Filing

After the completion of the search and the writing of the report on it, an application for registration will be submitted. The application must be submitted in the format stipulated by the government and must be accompanied by the appropriate payments required by the government. This request may be submitted on the internet. The following information must be included in your application in order to be considered complete:

'Logo, mark, tagline, or the mark,' or the mark

Name and Address of Owner (Individual, Company, or Firm) Classification of Trademark class Date that the Logo, Mark, or Tagline Began to Be Used Description of Goods and Services

After the application has been submitted, the register will provide an official receipt that includes the date the application was submitted as well as the number that has been assigned to the application.

Priority of application is assigned based on this acknowledgment number, even though the legal procedure of registering a trademark in India might take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to complete. In addition, after the applicant has been assigned this application number, they are permitted to begin utilizing the TM symbol.

Vienna Code Classification

The Vienna Agreement laid the foundation for what is now known as the Vienna Codification (1973). It is a worldwide taxonomy of the figurative components that may be found in markings. After the application has been filed, the next step is the categorization based on the Vienna code. At this point in the process, the Registrar will classify the trademark according to the Vienna system based on the figurative aspects of the mark. If the status of your application indicates that it has been "Sent for Vienna Codification," then you will know that your application has reached this stage.

Examination

Following the Vienna Codification comes this further step. After the Vienna Codification has been completed, the application will be sent to the office of a selected Trademark Officer (TO). The TO has the discretion to either approve the application and proceed to the next step, or to submit objections to the application and prevent it from moving further. The TO conducts an examination of the application, and for this reason, produces an examination report.

The applicant has the right to appear before the TO and give his defence in the event that the TO raises an objection to the application. The TO will decide whether or not to accept the application and proceed to the next step based on how pleased he is with the representation. If he is not content, he will not be successful in completing the application. In addition, the applicant has the legal right to file an appeal with the Intellectual Property Appellate Board on this issue.

The Publication of Journals

After the application has been approved by the TM, the following step is for the proposed trademark to be published in the Trademark Journal. This happens after the next stage. Every week, a new issue of the Trademark journal is released. The public is given the option to file an objection to the mark once it has been published in the Journal, provided that they have serious reasons for doing so. The objection to the trademark has to be submitted by the third party within three months (with an additional one month of grace) following the publication date of the trademark.

In the event that the mark is challenged, the Trademark Hearing Officer will conduct an investigation and hold a hearing. At this hearing, all sides will have an equal opportunity to tell their side of the story and make their arguments. After listening to all sides of the argument and considering the facts presented, the hearing officer will next provide a decision. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board is the body that hears appeals against decisions issued by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Trademark Registration

After a period of four months beginning on the day that an advertising was published in the Trade Marks Journal, the trademark registration certificate will be granted if there are no oppositions to the registration. It takes ten years from the date of application for a trademark to reach its full potential as a valuable asset. After then, the registration may be renewed for an endless amount of time so long as the renewal payments are paid once every ten years.

Conclusion

From the time that a trademark is first published in a trademark journal until the time that a trademark certificate is issued, the process typically takes between eight and nine months. The mandatory trademark would continue to be legally valid for a period of 10 years, after which it would be eligible for renewal.

There are many other forms that a trademark might take, including images, designs, and even phrases. Because a trademark is considered to be a kind of intellectual property, securing it may assist a firm in protecting its intangible assets from being infringed upon or exploited by a third party.

FAQs

Q1. What is the time period for Renewal of a registered trademark?

Ans. Usually, time period of renewal is 10 years from the date of filing application.

Q2. Whether opposition period is extendable or not?

Ans. No it is not extendable. The only time that we get to file counter statement is 4 months from the day when opposition raised.

Q3. Which is the Section that deals with filing of Application?

Ans. Sec 17 of Trademark Act 1999 deals with Application.